photo courtesy of Pixabay user 12019
(SEATTLE) Northwest-based fishing boats have been dealt a double-whammy as Alaska calls-off two different harvests.
Alaska’s Department of Fish and Wildlife has been digesting the numbers…the very low numbers…based on a population study conducted over the summer.
And after days of debate, they’ve concluded in order to protect two different species, they’re cancelling the fall Bristol Bay King Crab harvest AND for the first time in history, they’re scrapping the winter Snow Crab harvest.
Apparently, Snow Crab populations collapsed in the aftermath of a 2019 Bering Sea warming. Last year’s snow crab harvest of 5.6 million pounds was the smallest in more than 40 years.
Jamie Goen, executive director of the Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers, tells the Times “I am struggling for words. This is so unbelievable that this is happening. We have third-generation fishermen who are going to go out of business.”
